Istanbul Medeniyet University (IMU) has continued its upward trend in sustainability performance according to the results of UI GreenMetric 2025, one of the world’s most prestigious sustainability rankings, achieving a perfect score in the Waste Management category and ranking among the world leaders in this field.
This year, the UI GreenMetric World University Rankings evaluated universities’ environmental sustainability performance across six main categories: Setting & Infrastructure, Water, Energy & Climate Change, Transportation, Waste, and Education & Research. With this achievement in waste management in the 2025 assessment, Istanbul Medeniyet University once again demonstrated that it has implemented sustainable campus practices not only as a goal but as a measurable and monitorable system.
In recent years, our university, which places great importance on waste management alongside zero-waste policies, was one of 33 universities to receive full marks in the “waste” category, which evaluated 1,745 universities worldwide across 19 areas, placing it among the best in the world. IMU’s full score in the Waste Management category was achieved through the effective implementation of 3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) programs, policies implemented across the campus to reduce paper and plastic use, on-site and comprehensive processing of organic and inorganic waste, hazardous waste and wastewater management, and the systematic execution of ICT-supported planning, monitoring, and evaluation processes. These efforts were planned and implemented under the coordination of Istanbul Medeniyet University’s Sustainability Office within the framework of a long-term sustainability vision, and were regularly revised and improved each year.
One of the projects that sets IMU apart in inorganic waste management is the on-site recycling workshops established within the university that convert paper and plastic waste. These workshops enable waste generated on campus to be incorporated into the circular economy while allowing new and functional products to be produced from this waste. This application-based model was not limited to the campus boundaries; the workshops were taken outside the campus for short-term applications, bringing them to different venues and different target audiences. Thus, through collaborations with public institutions, knowledge and experience in waste management and the circular economy were transferred to wider audiences and used as a tool for raising awareness.
The waste management and circular economy-themed games developed at Istanbul Medeniyet University, together with the workshops, transformed sustainability from an abstract concept into an experiential learning process. Conducted with the active participation of students, these activities emphasized the importance of applied learning and social contribution in the university’s educational approach, while also enabling waste management to be linked to many different SDGs.
This successful result achieved in the UI GreenMetric 2025 Waste Management category is the outcome of numerous efforts made by Istanbul Medeniyet University in the field of waste management to date, while also reflecting the national achievements of the Sustainable IMU team in 2025 on an international level. The waste management policies and practices implemented within the university have achieved success not only within the scope of UI GreenMetric, but also in various platforms and programs for a long time. In this context, thanks to the team’s policy of involving students, whom it sees as future leaders, in the process, alongside its corporate responsibility projects, the team has achieved awards in competitions in many areas within the field of waste management, such as “environmental social responsibility projects,” “waste management systems and applications,” “eco-packaging design,” and “advanced recycling art.” The students’ waste management projects were also supported through the UNIDES projects sponsored by the Turkish Ministry of Youth and Sports. Thus, Istanbul Medeniyet University continued to strengthen its experience in the field of waste management by developing its corporate approach on the basis of continuity together with its students.
Istanbul Medeniyet University, which scored full marks in the Waste Management category in UI GreenMetric 2025 and ranks among the world leaders, continues to set an exemplary model in sustainable waste management with its campus-wide and off-campus initiatives, collaborations with public institutions and various stakeholders, solution-oriented approach, and goal of nurturing future leaders.